Stress Essay
Stress is something everyone experiences sometime throughout their life; it is essential. This essay will first define stress and comment on both good and bad stress. Secondly, it will give examples of physical, emotional and behavioural symptoms of stress. Thirdly, it will discuss common causes of stress and give an understanding of the difference between internal and external causes of stress. Fourthly, it will explain unmanaged stress and describe consequences of unmanaged stress. Finally this essay will suggest a variety of strategies for reducing stress.
If you were told that there is a 2000 word essay due by the end of the day you would immediately begin to ‘stress’. Stress can be defined as “our generalised reaction to any event, person, place or thought, memory or belief which requires us to cope or adapt” (Winsborough & Allen, 1997, p. 9). There are three stages people undergo when under stress. The first stage is: the alarm stage where the body switches into overdrive… the second stage, is the resistance stage, all the heightened physical and mental responses help create increased activity so that the challenge can be met, but there is only so much strength and endurance that a person can muster before he or she goes into the third stage: exhaustion. (Peiffer, 1996, p. 4)
One thing that must remembered is that stress can affect us both negatively and/or positively. A certain amount of stress is good for people. It can positively affect someone by adding interest and giving us a sense of motivation to life. For instance if you have a test in two weeks it can make you feel motivated and excited to do the test; even feeling a sense of achievement once it’s done. This motivation makes you want to study hard to achieve high. People can also have a small amount of stress when needed to cross the road or when driving a car. Before crossing the road you look both ways, on full alert looking for oncoming cars. People do the same thing when driving, always
If you were told that there is a 2000 word essay due by the end of the day you would immediately begin to ‘stress’. Stress can be defined as “our generalised reaction to any event, person, place or thought, memory or belief which requires us to cope or adapt” (Winsborough & Allen, 1997, p. 9). There are three stages people undergo when under stress. The first stage is: the alarm stage where the body switches into overdrive… the second stage, is the resistance stage, all the heightened physical and mental responses help create increased activity so that the challenge can be met, but there is only so much strength and endurance that a person can muster before he or she goes into the third stage: exhaustion. (Peiffer, 1996, p. 4)
One thing that must remembered is that stress can affect us both negatively and/or positively. A certain amount of stress is good for people. It can positively affect someone by adding interest and giving us a sense of motivation to life. For instance if you have a test in two weeks it can make you feel motivated and excited to do the test; even feeling a sense of achievement once it’s done. This motivation makes you want to study hard to achieve high. People can also have a small amount of stress when needed to cross the road or when driving a car. Before crossing the road you look both ways, on full alert looking for oncoming cars. People do the same thing when driving, always